I would wait to send the payment until you've met up and have the item you're buying in hand...and are happy with it. You could submit payment from your phone right then and this would be safe for you. The danger is actually selling on Craigslist. PayPal Seller Protection is not valid for items that are picked up in person, so if you were to meet up with the person to get your item, send the payment, but then later filie a dispute saying you never received it they would have no way to prove that you did recive it and you would likely win the case. I'm not advocating that you do that, of course. Just explaining that the danger with PayPal on Craigslist is more on the seller side than the buyer side (as long as you don't send a payment somewhere before actually having the item in your hands).
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